John Reuter (Edward John Hubert Reuter) and Pauline Pirotte (Pauline Marie Gaspard Pirotte) are my maternal great-grandparents. John was born about 1822 in Cologne (German: Köln), Prussia. Pauline was born about 1824 in Fiphelens (Dutch) (French: Fexhe-lins), Liége, Belgium. They married about 1850 and had three children:
1. Stephanie, born 1851 in Liége, Belgium
2. Armand, born 1852 in Antwerp, Belgium
3. Edmond, born 1857 in Karlsruhe, Baden
They immigrated to Montreal, Canada between 1853 and 1857. And about 1880 they emigrated from Canada to Ogdensburg, New York, USA. You can read more about the family’s migration path through Germany, Belgium, Canada, and the United States here.
Discovering more records and ancestors in Europe requires knowledge of the political divisions beginning with the Holy Roman Empire, particularly the Kingdom of Prussia, through the establishment of Belgium as an independent nation and the creation of the German Empire. I wrote this overview of Prussian and Belgium history to provide an historical context for their lives in Europe, which will hopefully inform fruitful future research.